How to address biased HS teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD had a teacher who expressed stereotypical views against certain racial groups. She would make comments about how certain students must be good at certain sports or other students must be good at math/science. She was an English teacher and it was obvious she felt only one group was good at writing. I spent the whole year wondering how to bring this up to the school and never did because it is such a difficult topic but I now spend way too much time thinking about how much I regret not raising it.

There must be many teachers like this who feel strongly on all political sides and most of them set aside their. biases when they walk into the classrooms but not all. I think more should be done to try to address this problem especially given what is going on with the whole critical race theory issue and the book banning nowadays.

That's the thing - if people don't want ideas on one side of the political spectrum in the classroom, they have to keep other sides out too. That's the whole idea of a viewpoint neutral classroom
-conservative who is very disgusted by what happened to OP's kid

The only way to provide a neutral viewpoint learning environment is by not presenting any information that is not absolute fact-based like math. Teaching and learning requires inclusion of various viewpoints, not no viewpoints. So the various political perspectives need to be included, not just one, regardless of which side you're on.

[Anonymous]

I would not have triggered such a stubbornly-prejudiced teacher with such a topic, OP!

Your child has to learn socio-emotional intelligence, and consider whether it is worth their while to provoke someone in authority and what they expect to gain from that action.

Now the deed is done, you cannot let the teacher's unfair decision slide. Please contact the Principal, produce the paper, and make your case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD had a teacher who expressed stereotypical views against certain racial groups. She would make comments about how certain students must be good at certain sports or other students must be good at math/science. She was an English teacher and it was obvious she felt only one group was good at writing. I spent the whole year wondering how to bring this up to the school and never did because it is such a difficult topic but I now spend way too much time thinking about how much I regret not raising it.

There must be many teachers like this who feel strongly on all political sides and most of them set aside their. biases when they walk into the classrooms but not all. I think more should be done to try to address this problem especially given what is going on with the whole critical race theory issue and the book banning nowadays.

That's the thing - if people don't want ideas on one side of the political spectrum in the classroom, they have to keep other sides out too. That's the whole idea of a viewpoint neutral classroom
-conservative who is very disgusted by what happened to OP's kid

The only way to provide a neutral viewpoint learning environment is by not presenting any information that is not absolute fact-based like math. Teaching and learning requires inclusion of various viewpoints, not no viewpoints. So the various political perspectives need to be included, not just one, regardless of which side you're on.

Yes, you're right, I put in inaptly. But the teacher doesn't get to heavily favor a side, either outright or indirectly. That biases things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would not have triggered such a stubbornly-prejudiced teacher with such a topic, OP!

Your child has to learn socio-emotional intelligence, and consider whether it is worth their while to provoke someone in authority and what they expect to gain from that action.

Now the deed is done, you cannot let the teacher's unfair decision slide. Please contact the Principal, produce the paper, and make your case.

I've told my kids the same. As far as teachers go, give them what they want & tell them what they want to hear. Get your A and move on with life.

[Anonymous]

Liberal teachers are biased, too. Except their bias is tolerated in teachers' lounges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would not have triggered such a stubbornly-prejudiced teacher with such a topic, OP!

Your child has to learn socio-emotional intelligence, and consider whether it is worth their while to provoke someone in authority and what they expect to gain from that action.

Now the deed is done, you cannot let the teacher's unfair decision slide. Please contact the Principal, produce the paper, and make your case.

DC was unaware of the extent of the teacher's activism and we only found out when other parents mentioned it. It's all there on Google but really who Googles their child's teachers and looks for personal information? The paper also did not address any particularly controversial component. This isn't exactly it but a good example would be a paper that looked at anti-LGBT assaults. There's controversy over whether that should be a hate crime, but would anyone in their right minds today say that it's okay for people to be assaulted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has a teacher with known conservative views on many social issues (pro-choice, against gay marriage, aligned with groups that do not believe in affirmative action or kids who are trans using their preferred gender bathroom) based on previous advocacy work.

This year DC wrote what we thought was an excellent paper related to about a particular historical moment in the LGBT rights movement, and got a poor grade. When she got the rubric and grading back many items that were marked off did not make any sense. When she tried to inquire with the teacher the teacher was very defensive and kept coming back to the point that the teacher did not agree with the thesis. The teacher also came down on DC for not presenting the other view point which is that LGBT rights are not a good thing. DC did mention that there is opposition from some groups, especially religious groups, but it was not half her paper because the assignment was not to present all sides of an issue but to pick a moment and make an argument about it. One of my good friends is a HS teacher and read the assignment and paper and was shocked about the grade and thought this needed to be brought up to the administration.

We are not sure what to advise DC to do next if anything. Is this something you would bring up and how would you do it? Would you go to the teacher first? The department head or the principal? This is a public school.

You think the paper is wonderful because it represents your point of view and you feel that you are proving to the teacher she is wrong. The paper in fact could suck. Just depends. Does the rubric say to provide opposing viewpoints and explain them? Refute them? Teens' ideas of refuting an argument can be based on feelings but maybe the point was to refute the arguments with actual facts and citations. Even so they might pick the wrong facts that don't actually refute argument. It's still a learning process.

Your friend of course is going to tell you the paper is brilliant even if she doesn't think so.

Other posters are right, you and your DD just want the teacher to be wrong. It's a waste of time. Don't teach your kid this kind of nonsense. They don't need to try and fix the teachers view points. That's not her responsibility and it's not even possible. Do your kid a favor and just tell them yeah this wasn't the right approach, learn to tread your audience, and don't waste any more time on this.

[Anonymous]

Be a sounding board for your kid, but let them do the work here. This is a life lesson. Unfortunately, this is one of many close-minded people your kid will have to work with (or for) and they need to figure out how to negotiate the situation and enact change, if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has a teacher with known conservative views on many social issues (pro-choice, against gay marriage, aligned with groups that do not believe in affirmative action or kids who are trans using their preferred gender bathroom) based on previous advocacy work.

This year DC wrote what we thought was an excellent paper related to about a particular historical moment in the LGBT rights movement, and got a poor grade. When she got the rubric and grading back many items that were marked off did not make any sense. When she tried to inquire with the teacher the teacher was very defensive and kept coming back to the point that the teacher did not agree with the thesis. The teacher also came down on DC for not presenting the other view point which is that LGBT rights are not a good thing. DC did mention that there is opposition from some groups, especially religious groups, but it was not half her paper because the assignment was not to present all sides of an issue but to pick a moment and make an argument about it. One of my good friends is a HS teacher and read the assignment and paper and was shocked about the grade and thought this needed to be brought up to the administration.

We are not sure what to advise DC to do next if anything. Is this something you would bring up and how would you do it? Would you go to the teacher first? The department head or the principal? This is a public school.

Teachers with rainbow hair and nose bullrings can share their sexuality and orientation like it’s all good but someone who opposes wokeism is wrong. Goooooootcha

[Anonymous]

You lost me at woke. Now use your big girl voice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I would normally say talk to the teacher but what could the teacher say in this case if the teacher is biased? It would just turn the teacher defensive which the teacher was already was with the student.

The parent has only heard the student's side of it so far. They need to approach the teacher and see what they have to say before doing over their head.

+10000

OP lost me at “what we thought was an excellent paper.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has a teacher with known conservative views on many social issues (pro-choice, against gay marriage, aligned with groups that do not believe in affirmative action or kids who are trans using their preferred gender bathroom) based on previous advocacy work.

This year DC wrote what we thought was an excellent paper related to about a particular historical moment in the LGBT rights movement, and got a poor grade. When she got the rubric and grading back many items that were marked off did not make any sense. When she tried to inquire with the teacher the teacher was very defensive and kept coming back to the point that the teacher did not agree with the thesis. The teacher also came down on DC for not presenting the other view point which is that LGBT rights are not a good thing. DC did mention that there is opposition from some groups, especially religious groups, but it was not half her paper because the assignment was not to present all sides of an issue but to pick a moment and make an argument about it. One of my good friends is a HS teacher and read the assignment and paper and was shocked about the grade and thought this needed to be brought up to the administration.

We are not sure what to advise DC to do next if anything. Is this something you would bring up and how would you do it? Would you go to the teacher first? The department head or the principal? This is a public school.

Teachers with rainbow hair and nose bullrings can share their sexuality and orientation like it’s all good but someone who opposes wokeism is wrong. Goooooootcha

Teachers do not share their orientation, get a grip. Do you even have kids in school?

[Anonymous]

OP - If you kid is in high school, I don't think you should do anything. Have your child go his/her/their counselor and speak with the counselor about the issue. They are trained to deal with these issues and if warranted, will address the issue with the department head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Liberal teachers are biased, too. Except their bias is tolerated in teachers' lounges.

+1
And in the classroom and in the hallways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - If you kid is in high school, I don't think you should do anything. Have your child go his/her/their counselor and speak with the counselor about the issue. They are trained to deal with these issues and if warranted, will address the issue with the department head.

Also, I wanted to add that while it does sound like there is a legitimate issue here, I do think students struggle writing papers that require presenting viewpoints as opposed to arguing sides. My daughter is in AP Seminar this year and the teacher told me during the first conference that the number one issue he works to overcome in the first quarter is the intense desire to argue side. Instead, he trains the students to present a thesis and analyzing/presenting the lens which contribute to the discussion of that topic, along with the limitations to the information presented. I realized this class is likely not AP Seminar, but it is possible the teacher has those same expectations.